TOBACCO 161 



Tobacco is everywhere cultivated as an annual, but in the 

 Tropics may live over for several years. The plant ranges in 

 height from 2 to 7 feet and bears viscid leaves and stems with 

 a heavy odor and terminal panicles of whitish, pale pink, or 

 rose pink flowers. The seed pods are well filled with seed of 

 such minute size that it requires about 400,(xxd seed to weigh 

 an ounce. Tobacco is grown commercially on a great variety 

 of soils and in all kinds of climates from Canada to the Equa- 

 tor. Both soils and climate, however, greatly affect the growth 

 of the plant, the physical properties of leaf, the chemical com- 

 position of the leaf, and the aroma. Cuban, Philippine, Su- 

 matra, Hawaiian, and Egyptian tobaccos would doubtless 

 differ greatly in aroma if grown in these different countries 

 from the same seed sample. The vuelto abajo tobacco of Pinar 

 del Rio, Cuba, is a case in point. This famous tobacco is used 

 as a filler, and despite numerous attempts it has not been 

 possible to duplicate it even in other parts of Cuba. Various 

 strains of tobacco have been introduced into Hawaii from 

 different countries, and while these tobaccos have grown satis- 

 factorily they have shown different physical characters and a 

 different flavor and aroma from those which develop from the 

 same strain in the country from which they were imported. 



Tobacco seed is sown in seed beds. These beds are almost 

 universally prepared by a special treatment of sterilization by 

 burning. The burning of logs on the surface of the seed bed 

 or the production of a similarly high temperature in the soil 

 by any other means has the effect not only of sterilizing the 

 soil with regard to fungous diseases which might attack the 

 young plants, but improves the tilth of the seed bed so that 

 the growth of the seedlings is more rapid as well as more vigor- 

 ous. The seeds germinate in 10 to 14 days. It requires about 

 one spoonful of seed to plant each 100 square yards of seed 

 bed. The seedlings are transplanted at the age of 5 or 6 weeks 

 in rows 3j4 to 4 feet apart and 14 to 24 inches apart in the 

 row. In most tobacco districts the plants are topped as soon 



